Rise of the Earth Avatar Book 1: Deception
by Zyith
Summary: The year is 252 AG, 18 years after Avatar Korra has passed away. The White Lotus has not been able to find the new Earth Kingdom avatar for the past 18 years and is currently tasking all nation's leaders to search for the new avatar. This story begins in the Si Wong desert where two brothers have been working with a bandit clan called the Ghesh.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note:

Thank you for taking the time to read my first ever fanfiction. I have attempted to keep all new names within the realms of the same naming conventions as the original creators of Avatar as well as keeping everything that has been given to us from the previous shows. Let me know if you see a name, place, or anything that does not belong in the Avatar universe.

Thank you.

Book 1: Deception

Prologue

The year is 252 AG, 18 years after Avatar Korra has passed away. With the next avatar to be born an earthbender, the White Lotus is scouring the Earth Kingdom in an attempt to find the avatar. Though there is no looming threat, the White Lotus is determined to find the avatar for fear of the ways of the avatar will be lost. The White Lotus has tasked the nation's leaders to internally search for the avatar in case the cycle has changed.

With King Wu's declaration, all monarchies no longer have any control over the nation. The Earth Kingdom is now a full democracy with elected officials. Wu was even president for six years before helping pass into law that one person could not be head of the nation for more than six years. This democracy had major ramifications throughout the nation and even the world. The biggest change being that most of the major corruption had been rooted out and sent off to prison. Unfortunately, some of the people behind this corruption were able to escape and become leaders of bandits and raiders.

Meanwhile, the new Air Nation is continuing its promise to Tenzin and Jinora by bringing peace and balance to the world. With another 78 years under its belt, the Air Nation as grown exponentially in size and has reclaimed the temples on all corners of the Earth. It is now required that all airbenders must not only complete the 36 tests of airbending but spend at least 2 years with a group of airbenders exploring the world and helping to solve any problems before receiving their tattoos and becoming masters. The airbending masters may then take up home in one of the five temples (North, East, South, West, and Air Temple Island) or continue to roam the world and bring peace to the surrounding nations. A young female airbender, Urana, currently patrols the center of the Earth Kingdom along with four other airbenders. Urana has just received word that a local bandit clan in the Si Wong desert has been causing a lot of trouble for the nearby clans along with the Misty Palms Oasis. Determined to get her tattoos, Urana leads her group to the northern edge of the worst desert in the world.

Chapter 1: The Ghesh

"Hurry Men!" Kathaab shouted as his sand-sailors glided over the hot desert sand. Kathaab was the only bandit dressed with bright colors. Reds and greens adorned his wraps along with rubies and emeralds to accent the bright colors. There were multiple gold rings with more extravagant jewels fastened to the jewelry. "I want to be there before anyone else gets a chance. Qiang. Zaki. I want you two to lead the charge. Trap the merchants so that we can get the loot!"

Qiang and Zaki looked at each other and then nodded towards Kathaab. Zaki continued to bend sand into the sail of the sand-sailor as Qiang stood towards the front of the vessel, keeping an eye out for the merchants and any trouble. Zaki pushed the sand-sailor to the front of the group while Kathaab's sand-sailor followed behind them. Even with Qiang at the front of the sand-sailor, he still looked small compared to Zaki. Zaki was almost two meters tall while Qiang was about thirteen centimeters shorter.

"We're almost there." Qiang called out. "They should be just over this next dune."

The group of sand-sailors slowed as they reached the top of the dune, the sand biting at the cheeks of the bandits who were riding the crafts. As the group reached the top of the dune Qiang shouted, "Stop!"

"We're doomed." Some of the newer bandits called out.

"How can we beat them?" The others cried. All of the newer bandits stood in awe as they looked down the massive dune towards giant beetles carrying huge crates of cargo, multiple beetle-headed merchants, and a few dozen Earth Kingdom troops.

"Guess this verifies your intel." Qiang says to Zaki.

Zaki nods.

"If you wimps want to go stick your heads in the sand and wait for an easier target to come by, then LEAVE! We are the Ghesh and we do not hesitate to steal from whoever crosses this desert!" Kathaab bellowed out to his underlings. The newer bandits looked at each other and then started to turn their sand-sailors around.

With a sharp motion, Kathaab bended the sand around the new bandits forming a small gust of blades. The sand was tearing at their skin. The bandits started to yell out in agony.

"I didn't say you could keep the sailors." He cackled. The new bandits stopped the sand-sailors and brought them around facing the merchants below.

"That's what I thought. Now, watch as we show these beetle-headed merchants why they should never cross our desert, especially with a squad of Earth Kingdom soldiers." Kathaab nodded towards Qiang and Zaki. Zaki began bending sand back into the sail of the sand-sailor and the vessel ramped off of the top of the dune and down towards the merchants.

As the vessel got closer to the merchants, one of the soldiers on the beetles called out, "BANDITS!" The soldier pointed towards the sand-sailor now halfway down the dune. The Earth Kingdom soldiers jumped off of the beetles and readied there stance. Troops falling in behind the front line of soldiers began hardening the nearby sand into rocks and boulders. Teams of two began launching the boulders at Qiang and Zaki's sand-sailor. Qiang began bending the boulders so that they would just miss the craft causing explosions of sand and rock to fly up around them.

"Well. What are you all waiting for?" Kathaab called out to the rest of the bandits. "They don't get to have all of the fun." The rest of the sand-sailors started down the dune towards the merchants. A few boulders knocked out a few of the outlying craft. Kathaab shook his head in disgust.

The giant beetles began to rear up in fear causing the merchants to fall off of one of the beetles before it ran away. The beetles with the crates were too nervous to move since they knew the punishment for dropping their cargo.

Qiang and Zaki's sand-sailor was now just meters from the front line of soldiers. Qiang and Zaki jumped off the sides of the craft and began bending projectiles of their own. Qiang fired the rocks as fast as he was making them causing multiple soldiers to fall to the ground. The soldiers charged Qiang and Zaki. Qiang bended the metal of the soldier's armor that were surrounding Qiang, tightening the armor around their chests making it harder to move and breath. The soldiers dropped to their knees trying to catch their breath in the harsh desert air.

"A metalbender. Out here!" A soldier cried out before being knocked out by Qiang. Qiang began rushing towards one of the beetles with a large crate on top of it. Qiang jumped to the top of the beetle and cut the ropes holding the crate with a few shards of metal that Qiang always kept on him. Qiang then pushed the box off of the beetle as the beetle started to rear up.

"Hope that wasn't breakable." He chuckled.

Meanwhile, Zaki made a small rock wall around himself, blocking the attacks of the soldiers. Once all of the soldiers were within range, Zaki bended the sand at the soldier's feet and formed a large pool of quicksand. The soldiers started to sink as they struggled to get free. One of the soldiers managed to free a leg and was able to form a rock. The soldier bended the rock at Zaki. Zaki caught the rock in his hand and crushed it back into sand. Zaki then finished the job by hardening the quicksand around the soldiers, preventing them from moving their arms or legs. Zaki then joined his brother by cutting the crates off of the beetles. The merchants huddled up together as Kathaab and the remaining bandits made their way to the giant beetles and entombed soldiers.

"What did I tell you two? Surround them, not take them all out so the rest of us have nothing to do." Kathaab said in a sad tone. "How am I supposed to train our men if you two do all of the work?"

"Relax." Qiang called out from on top of a beetle. "There is still plenty to do. You get to move the crates, open the crates, threaten the merchants. You know, the fun stuff." Qiang joked.

Zaki went up to Kathaab and said in a deep, clear voice. "There are four crates in total. Only one was damaged in the raid." Zaki stops to scowl over at his brother who is currently using a rock to smash open a crate. "Make that two crates are now damaged." Zaki then slowly walks over to Qiang, sighing. Zaki begins bending sand into stone steps up to the tops of the next two beetles.

"Alright men. Load up the loot and let's get out of here before the sand shark passes by." Kathaab stops to look down at the entombed soldiers as the bandits begin hauling what's left of the crates over to the sand-sailors.

"Hope you guys don't give him indigestion." Kathaab smirks as he makes his way over to the merchants.

"Now, what were you carrying that was worth hiring on a squadron of soldiers?" Kathaab says to the merchants. One of the merchants stumbles forward, shaking.

"Why do you torment us with your pillaging? Sandbenders may steal once and awhile but they never harm or take from fellow clans."

"You didn't answer my question." Kathaab drops down and sweeps the merchant's legs out from under him. Kathaab points to another merchant.

"Why are these crates so valuable?"

The old merchant replies, "These are ancient relics from an era long ago. You won't be able to sell them unless you can find the right buyer."

"So, you are saying I should take these to your buyer instead of you and get the profit? Sounds great!" Kathaab smiled and then waved his hand at the merchants. "You are free to go."

"But you scared off most of our beetles. How are we supposed to get back home?" The old merchant cried.

"Not my problem." Kathaab started back towards the bandits. As Kathaab passed the soldiers, one of the men yelled out,

"How are you still alive, Kathaab? You were kicked out of Fort Bosco years ago." Kathaab looks down at the soldiers stuck in the solid stone created by Zaki. Kathaab eyes the man that spoke out and replies,

"The same way I controlled Bosco, by being ruthless. Now you might want to stop talking and start figuring out how you are going to get out of there." The soldiers shudder as they realize they are being left for dead.

"Just kill us now. Why do we have to suffer first?" A soldier cries out.

"What fun would that be?" Kathaab ignores the rest of the soldier's pleas as he walks back to the bandits. A bandit walks up to Kathaab and states,

"All done, sir."

"Good. Let's get out of here before the sand shark makes its daily pass." Kathaab motions to Qiang and Zaki. "Make sure we aren't followed." Kathaab gets back on to his sand-sailor. The rest of the bandits get on to the remaining sand-sailors and begin bending back to the Ghesh base. One sand-sailor remains for Qiang and Zaki.

Qiang steps on to the remaining sand-sailor and after Kathaab and the rest of the bandits are over the dune, Qiang makes a motion with his hands. The armor that was tightening around the soldier's bodies loosens and falls off. Zaki makes a slight smirk towards Qiang and begins bending the stone around the soldiers. The stone starts to crack and then break down back into sand.

"Why?" the soldiers ask.

Zaki gets on the sand-sailor with Qiang. As Zaki steps onto the craft, Qiang makes a snide remark towards him,

"You're welcome." Zaki then bends the sand into the sand-sailor's sail and glides off towards the Ghesh base. The soldiers and merchants look at each other in confusion. Feeling defeated, the soldiers and merchants climb aboard the remaining beetles and head off in the opposite direction. Not wanting anything to do with the Ghesh ever again.

Back at the Ghesh hideout, the bandits were taking the crates into the large stone building that stood at the center of the base. Kathaab's face was glowing with excitement as his men started to tear open the crates.

"Gold, jewels, weapons. I bet its jewels. It has to be." Kathaab was practically bouncing as he tried to guess the contents of the crates. Qiang and Zaki were leaning up against a back wall of the building while watching the commotion going on at the center.

"They're open boss." A bandit called out.

"Let me see. Let me see. Let me see!" Kathaab raced over to the nearest crate and ripped the side off. Kathaab threw the hay that was inside of the crate to the side and yelped.

"What is this?" Kathaab runs to the next crate and finds the same object inside. "Eggs!" Giant eggs!"

"Guess that explains the gooey stuff that was leaking out of the two crates Qiang broke." A bandit says as if he had just solved the biggest crime the world had ever seen.

"I thought you said there would be treasure!" Kathaab stormed over to Zaki.

"I said there would be royal artifacts. How was I supposed to know that these eggs were worth twenty thousand gold ingots?" Zaki stated in a calm voice. Not even flinching as Kathaab knocked two men over as he approached.

Kathaab's face lit up again.

"We still have half of the cargo which means we still get ten thousand ingots." Qiang said. "Hell, we even get a free dinner." Kathaab laughed and placed his hands on the brother's shoulders.

"You're right. Men, take the two good eggs and lock them in the vault for now. Make sure that they stay in pristine condition. Take the other two eggs to the kitchen and remember, I like my omelets with cheese and peppers. NO ONIONS!" Kathaab laughed and left the building, heading towards his personal quarters.

Later in the dining hall, the bandits were enjoying a victorious raid with a great feast of every type of egg dish you could think of along with the usual mead and ale. The bandits were no longer in their heavy wraps and you could now see the faces of the men who call themselves the Ghesh. Qiang and Zaki enter the room and make their way over to a table in the corner. Qiang with his hands over his head, smiling and Zaki with the same face he wears doing anything, a neutral frown.

Zaki was stout in almost every meaning of the word but still toned and in very good shape. He had sharp dark green eyes and short, spikey hair that was a dark black. Qiang was also in great condition but not as big as his brother. Qiang had the same hair color but his hair was much longer going down past his shoulders. Qiang's eyes were a much lighter shade of green that stood out even from across the room. With their robes off, you can see the difference in skin color compared to most of the men in the Ghesh. Their bodies were toned but not as dark as a natural born desert dweller. Kathaab was the only other person in the Ghesh to not have the dark skin of the desert clans. Zaki has a large amount of scars going down his arms and legs and a dark one across the right cheek while Qiang has smooth skin with no noticeable marks except for a few dark freckles underneath his eyes.

"Does that guy ever look happy?" A bandit says to another as Qiang and Zaki walk over to the table.

"I doubt it." The bandit says back. "I've been with the Ghesh for three years now and have never seen that kid smile or laugh or act like a human being at all. He's always like that."

"What a weird guy."

"Yeah, well that _weird_ _guy _almost single-handedly took out those soldiers today." Another bandit chimes in. "Just as he was about to get his butt kicked, he pulls an ace from his sleeve and trumps all of those soldiers."

"He's always done that. He sits there and takes a beating and then finishes everything in a few moves.

"Is that how he got those scars?" A fourth bandit asks.

"Probably. He's had that eye soar on his face since I have known him but all of the other ones seem to be multiplying."

"He should fight more like his brother and actually dodge the attacks. Then he might actually look his age and not like a thirty year-old man. "The bandits chuckled. "You would never know that Zaki is the younger brother."

"Really?"

"Yeah." The bandit laughs. "Crazy when you think about how much stronger he is then his brother."

"No way!" Qiang is way tougher than Zaki."

"I don't know. I think Zaki's smarts and strength beat out Qiang's speed and agility."

"What are you talking about? Qiang can dish it out just like Zaki. You remember when we were too close to the Si Wong Rock and the buzzard wasps swarmed us?"

"Yeah. That was terrible."

"Exactly,but Qiang bent the metal right from the rock and cut down the buzzard wasps."

"We did eat pretty well that night too." The bandits all laugh again.

"Well if it ever came to it, my golds on Zaki if they ever have to fight to the death."

"You're crazy! Qiang would kick his butt any day of the week." The bandits continue to argue and laugh as they drink and eat the night away.

Meanwhile.

"Why do you insist on being so nice to everyone?" Qiang says to Zaki once they sit down at the table with plates full of eggs.

"What are you talking about?" Zaki replies.

"Today. I know you would have never let be live it down if I didn't free those soldiers from their armor."

"Tell me. What do you gain by killing them? Gold, food. No. It's pointless to make people suffer or die for no reason."

"It's what they get for being soldiers and fighting us."

"It's what they get for wanting to protect the people of the Earth Kingdom?"

"Whatever. You are too naive" Qiang starts to laugh. "I won't win this argument either. Anyway, Kathaab wants us to go to the oasis and see if we can find the buyer for the eggs. Maybe even get a better price out of them."

"When?"

"Sunrise. So don't over eat like you did last time." Qiang chuckles as the two brothers finish there meal. After the meal, the two brothers head out to a nearby stone hut. Each brother goes to their respective room and try to get a good nights rest.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Misty Palms Oasis

"I told you not to eat too much." Qiang shouted down the hall as Zaki was in the bathroom. "We're already late. Sunrise was an hour ago."

"We'll be fine." Zaki said as he walks out of the restroom while wrapping a keffiyeh (scarf used to cover your neck and face) around his head, allowing only his eyes to be shown. The cloth that the brothers used was a dusty white and was getting very worn. For some reason, Zaki's always seemed to be more torn up then Qiang's. "There shouldn't be any storms today and it only takes a few hours to get there. Besides, you're just upset that we have one less hour for you to hit on all of the women in the city."

"Hey! They at least have to be good looking." Qiang jests as the two brothers walk out of their hut. "Maybe you should try it sometime. Hell, you might even get lucky enough to convince someone to like you so you won't be so depressing all the time."

"Heh." Zaki got on to the brother's sand-sailor. As Qiang took his spot at the front of the craft, Zaki began motioning with his arms and bending the sand into the sail. The craft lurched forward and the brothers made their way out of the camp.

* * *

><p>"Excuse me, sir." Urana tried to get the attention of a shopkeeper just inside the Misty Palms Oasis. Urana was wearing the now common airbender travel uniform, the wingsuit. All airbenders wore this outfit when out on their two year patrol before becoming a master airbender. All five of the airbenders in Urana's patrol party were wearing them. The wingsuits were orange with blue sleeves and red undersides on the wing flaps. The flaps connected to brass buttons located on the chest when not being used for flight. Urana stood just under two meters which was the average height for her age. Urana had light brown hair that stopped right above the shoulders. Like most airbenders, she was lean and had a small frame. "We're looking for Ronan, the leader of the trade guild."<p>

"Hmph." The shopkeeper pointed to the center of the city.

"Well that's real helpful." One of the other airbenders said sarcastically as the group started to walk towards the town. The airbender started to pull out a map and said, "This city is huge! Why has no one from the Eastern Air Temple updated their maps since the era of Avatar Aang?"

"Who knows? Let's just get moving. Maybe there will be someone _nicer_ inside." Urana looks back at the shopkeeper before the group starts to make their way towards the center of the city. As the group was walking towards the main street, the group heard a loud crash just outside of town. Urana and the group ran outside the main gate to find a sand-sailor smashed up against one of the exterior walls of the city.

"I told you I'm not a very good sandbender!" A voice shouts from inside the wreckage.

"You just refuse to practice." Another voice states, agitated yet calm. Two figures make their way out of the dust that was stirred into the air from the crash. The figures are covered in dusty white cloth that is covering most of their faces along with the rest of their bodies. All the airbenders can see is that one is taller than the other and a bit bulkier.

"Oh look! The oasis has pretty ladies greeting us now." The shorter of the two figures rushes up to each girl in the airbender party, holding each girls hands before moving to the next girl. His eyes were gleaming as if he had just found the love of his life. The taller figure rolls his eyes and starts making his way towards the main gate.

"Wait. Are you two all right?" Urana calls out to the taller man.

"Oh. We're great, right Zaki?" The shorter man says without letting go of Urana's hands. He looks back at the taller man and then returns his gaze to Urana's eyes. "Now, how about your number?" Urana begins to speak but is interrupted by Zaki grabbing the shorter man's shoulder and dragging him towards the gate. "Wait! I didn't get her number."

"You don't even have a phone." Zaki mumbles to the shorter man as he drags him into the city.

Once the two are out of sight, one of the airbenders says to the group, "That was odd."

"Yeah." Another states.

"Let's just get back to finding Ronan." The airbenders walk back into the city and head for the center of town, all of them looking around for the two men.

The group of airbenders stops walking as they reach the central market in the Oasis, all of them looking around for a sign stating where the guild hall is. One of the airbenders points to the giant building at the back of the market.

"Think that's it?" She says to the group.

"Probably." Urana replies. The group makes their way through the crowd towards the big building. The building stands out from the others not only with its great size but with its colorful pillars holding the awning of the building up.

"Is that pure sapphire and emerald?" One of the airbenders asks aloud.

"Sure is." An old man walks up to the airbenders. "The guild has made so much money these past few years that they decided to show everyone how great they are with, pillars…"

"Dumb." The airbenders says back to the old man.

"Yep. Now can I interest you with some of my marvelous desert clothing?" The old man points back to a stall surrounded by racks of bright dresses, formal suits, and fine jewelry. The other two girls in the group's eyes light up and rush over to the clothing. One of the boys from the group also walks over and begins looking at the clothing.

"Why are you the only person that talks to us? Everyone else around here seems to be in a bad mood." Urana says to the old man as she walks with him and the other airbender back towards the stall.

"It's because you're airbenders." The old man replies.

"Why does that matter?

"Because airbenders are poor. You people don't care about possessions so everyone knows that you won't buy anything. But what they don't realize is that kids of all nations love possessions." The old man chuckles. He stops laughing and leans down to Urana and whispers in her ear, "You do have money, right?"

"We have some silver pieces each, enough for food and shelter." The old man whimpers at the sound of Urana's voice.

"Silver. That's it?" He sighs. "I guess you could afford some of my earrings."

"No thank you. We have a meeting with Ronan." Urana goes up to the three airbenders trying on jewelry. "We're leaving." The three let out a unanimous groan. "Let's go."

As the five airbenders walk up the steps of the guild hall, the door flings open and two men come running out of the building.

"Hurry! Let's get out of here!" The shorter of the two men yells as the two run past the group of airbenders and into the market. Multiple guards run out of the guild hall and chase after the two men.

"Wasn't that the two from earlier?" Urana asks aloud.

"I think they are." Another airbender replies. The group stares as the guards chase the two men behind a building and out of sight.

"Oh well. Let's go talk to Ronan." The group continues into the building noticing multiple knocked over vases and tables.

"Who are you?" A guard asks.

"We're the airbenders Ronan asked for." Urana answers.

"Huh. This way." The guard leads the group through the mess and into a giant room with a long table into the middle. There are large tapestries adorning the walls. One of the tapestries is smoldering with large scorch marks around it. Just in front of the tapestry is a slab of stone. The stone appears to have taken the brunt of whatever caused the fire.

"That was my favorite one too." A voice says from behind the group. The group turns there gaze from the tapestry to the man that just walked in the room. The man was tidying up his hair and getting the ruffles out of his purple suit jacket. The man straightened up his red bowtie and began speaking again. "So you are the airbenders that I requested from the Eastern Air Temple?"

"Yes sir." Urana answers. The man eyes each of them up and down.

"So a couple of kids are going to stop the Ghesh? You've already failed your task."

"Excuse me sir?"

"The two men who just bolted out of my hall were members of the Ghesh."

"Those two?" An airbender asks. "They couldn't even pilot a sand-sailor without crashing and there supposed to be a part of the most ferocious gang in the Si Wong desert?" Urana elbows the airbender in the side.

"What he meant to say is that we didn't know and we're very sorry." She tries to mend the situation.

"I guess I shouldn't expect you to know who they were without ever stepping foot inside this desert. It is good to know, however, who was responsible for leaving that pile of garbage outside the city. We'll just have to add a few more vandalism and littering charges to their rap sheet." The man snickers. "I am Ronan. I am the man responsible for calling you here today. As you can see, the Ghesh are making a mess of our way of life here in the desert." Ronan turns his hand towards the smoldering tapestry. "They are led by a man named Kathaab. An old captain from Fort Bosco before the president ordered a restructuring of the fort, weeding out all of the corrupt officials and military members. Kathaab and his men were on their way to prison in Ba Sing Se via airship when Kathaab somehow broke from his holding cell and crashed the airship into the desert. Kathaab killed everyone on board who wouldn't listen to his leadership and lead the men somewhere out in the desert."

"That restructuring happened twelve years ago if I remember right." One of the female airbenders states. "Why are you just now asking for help?"

"No one knew he was alive until a few years ago when our bigger shipments went missing out in the desert. We thought it was just the sand sharks or buzzard wasps until a few of our men made it back alive and told us what had happened. Luckily, one of the men recognized Kathaab from a wanted poster and was able to identify him."

"That still doesn't explain why you waited so long." Urana counters.

"We thought we could buy him at first and when that didn't work we tried to intimidate him with larger numbers and soldiers but he just finds more men and continues to be a giant thorn in my side. We probably would have been able to beat him back but those two brothers he has working for him are unstoppable."

"Brothers?" Urana asks.

"The two that just ran out of this building. They are very powerful earthbenders and will probably crush you all when you raid there base tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? But we don't even know where they are nor have the manpower to take down an entire town of bandits." An airbender says uncomfortably.

"That's why I'm here." A woman says as she walks through the doorway behind Ronan. The woman was wearing a black military uniform with green and gold trim. The armor was made out of some sort of metal and had looked like it had seen better days. Even with her blue eyes and gray hair that was pulled into a bun, the woman looked scary. She was in her late sixties and was still able to strike fear in those around her.

"General Beifong? What are you doing here?" Urana asks the woman.

"I'm here to stop these mad men from destroying this place." She slams her hand into the palm of the other. "We will strike tomorrow around noon while their patrols are out. With half of their men gone, we should be able to take the base."

"Great." Ronan says with excitement. "Now why don't all of you go over the plans and get some rest. You airbenders all have rooms in the nearby inn, free of charge." Ronan smiles as he leaves the room. "I can't wait to see Kathaab's face once he is captured." He says to himself as he leaves the room.

"We have a lot to go over." General Beifong says to the airbenders as two men, wearing similar uniforms as the general, come into the room with a large map. The two men roll out the map on to the large table as everyone in the room gathers around.

* * *

><p>"Why are you telling people our names?" Zaki says to Qiang as he slams him into a wall down one of the many side streets of the city.<p>

"It's fine. They're just some airbenders." Qiang protests.

"Exactly! What would be the only reason a group of airbenders without their tattoos would be in a place like this?"

"Shopping." Qiang gets up off of the ground and dusts himself off.

"They're airbenders… They don't have money."

"I don't know then."

"To help the city. They're out on their two year patrol before they become master airbenders."

"How would you know?"

"Do you not listen to anything or read anything that goes on in this place? We're here all of the time."

"Nope! Too busy." Qiang smiles as he remembers a chance encounter with a beautiful fire bender the last time they were in town. Zaki rolls his eyes as he tries to explain things to his brother.

"A couple of days ago, I heard that Ronan had sent for the airbenders to help get rid of us. I wanted to size up our opponents before going to Kathaab, so I waited."

"Ronan! That's right. Kathaab believes that the beetle-headed merchants were going to sell the eggs to Ronan."

"Have you listened to anything I just said? Ronan has a bounty on us and we need to stay away from him."

"Yeah that's great. Let's go talk to Ronan." Qiang starts to walk out of the alley and onto the main street as Zaki puts his hand up to his head in disbelief.

"Now I remember why I don't talk to anyone, they don't listen." Zaki mutters to himself as he walks with his brother.

"Relax. Ronan won't know who we are with our keffiyehs on. This reminds me; let's pick some more cloth up on the way to the hall." The two brothers walk into the market and stop at their favorite clothing shop. The old woman at the counter looked up at the two brothers.

"Your usual?" The old woman asked the brothers. Zaki nods and hands the woman a few silver pieces. The woman goes to the back of the shopping stall and grabs a small bag. The woman then brings the bag to Zaki. "Here you go. See you in a week." The woman chuckles. Zaki thanks the woman and the two brothers continue towards the hall.

The two brothers walk up to the front door of the hall and knock. One of the Misty Palms Oasis guards opens the door.

"We're here to see Ronan." Qiang says to the guard.

"What is your business with him?" The guard replies.

"We have a very rare item we wish to discuss with him about." The guard looks at the brothers for a minute before deciding to let them in. The guard leads the brothers to the large room in the center of the hall.

"Wait here." The guard says as he leaves the room. The brothers look around at the tapestries on the wall and are standing in front of a large tapestry depicting an aerial view Misty Palms Oasis. The tapestry shows what the oasis looked like in the era of Aang, back when there was just a cantina and a small inn.

"That is my favorite one of them all." Ronan says as he enters the room. "It shows how far we have come in just a few hundred years."

"It's quite something." Qiang answers.

"So you have business for me?"

"Yes. We have recently come across two very rare specimens. Two giant eggs."

"Oh? And what is so special about these eggs?"

"They're giant eggs." Qiang replies. Zaki is using all of his strength to avoid face palming himself again in disbelief at what his brother had just said. "We're not sure what creature there from but they stand about one meter tall."

"That is something quite special, but you know what's funny? I was just recently told by a couple of beetle-headed merchants that they were just robbed yesterday of their giant eggs by the Ghesh." The two brothers look at each other with worried looks in their eyes. "Now how did you come upon these eggs again?"

"Uhh, we purchased them from some shady looking benders on the outskirts of town. We were sure we could fetch a nice profit with them." Qiang lied. Qiang now sweating more than any desert heat could cause.

"Really?" Ronan starts to walk slowly closer to the table, directly across from the two brothers. "Would you like to know what else is interesting, Qiang?"

"How do you know my name?" Both brothers start to back up against the tapestry.

Ignoring the question, Ronan continues, "Your little friend that you met last week was my DAUGHTER!" Ronan screamed as he quickly punched the air towards the brother's causing three fire balls to rocket towards them. Zaki stomped his foot to the ground causing a small stone wall to come up between Ronan and the two brothers. Zaki and Qiang were able to duck behind the wall in time to avoid being burnt by the fireballs. The fireballs instead scorched the stone wall and the tapestry hanging on the wall behind Qiang and Zaki.

"Run!" Qiang yells as the two brothers make a break for the nearest door. Ronan jumps into the air and swings his leg out causing another fireball to form and fire towards the brothers. Qiang and Zaki make it through the door just as the fireball explodes and begins to burn the door. Ronan starts to run after them yelling,

"Guards, after them!" Qiang and Zaki run to the front door of the guild hall and bust through. The two brothers run through the market dodging the vendors and shoppers wandering the streets. Four guards chase after them with swords drawn.

"Don't' let them get away!" One of the guards shouts.

"Great plan!" Zaki sarcastically says to Qiang in between breaths.

"Shut up!" Qiang shouts. As Qiang pulls ahead of Zaki, he yells, "This way!" Qiang takes a sudden turn down a back alley behind a house. Zaki follows him and the two brothers come up to a dead end. Zaki turns around and squats down and then slowly stands back up while raising his arms, bringing up a wall of solid earth in front of him. The two brothers wait as they hear the guards enter the alley.

"What the?" A guard questions.

"Do you really think that is going to work?" Another states. Two of the guards stomp the ground causing large rocks to rise up from the ground. The guards then punch the rocks at the wall.

"We had to try something." Qiang says as he punches the wall formed by Zaki, causing rocks to shoot out of the wall and hit the guards. The two earthbending guards in the front get knocked out by the surprise attack. Qiang then rushes the two remaining guards and dives feet first in between the two. Qiang then slams his hands on the ground causing a pillar of earth to rise up from behind each guard and smack them both in the back of the knee. Both guards buckle and fall backwards. Qiang gets back up and runs as Zaki motions with his legs and hands, bending the earth around the guards' feet and ankles. Zaki shackles the guards to the ground before following after Qiang. The two brothers run outside of the city and grab the closest sand-sailor. Zaki jumps on the back and begins bending sand into the sail as Qiang jumps on front.

"Why did I ever let you guide our sand-sailor?" Zaki asks rhetorically as he guides the sand-sailor back towards the Ghesh hideout.

* * *

><p>A few hours later the brothers arrive back at the Ghesh base. As soon as the brothers enter the base with the sand-sailor, they hear screaming and hollering coming from the vault. The two brothers rush to the vault and find multiple bandits looking at one of the eggs.<p>

"It's hatching!" One of the bandits shouts.

"Someone go get Kathaab!" Another yells. The egg starts to wiggle back and forth and cracks start to form on the side facing the bandits. Qiang and Zaki walk up behind the bandits and try to see what all of the commotion is. The cracks grow larger and larger as something starts to poke out of the egg. A long, yellow and black snout pokes out first with two beady yellow eyes on top. The lizard continues to break out of the egg using its feet. After a minute, the lizard pops out of the egg and starts to crawl towards the bandits. The lizard stands about a third of a meter tall and a little over a meter long. The lizard has a black stripe on top of the yellow snout with the rest of the lizard's body being yellow with black stripes. There is also a small hard protrusion coming out form the top of the lizards head.

The bandits start to scream again. "Kill it!" A bandit shouts.

"You do that and Kathaab will make sure you are next." Qiang replies. Zaki moves through the crowd of bandits and walks up to the lizard. The lizard shows its teeth in fear and lunges at Zaki. Zaki raises his arm and allows the lizard to bite him. The bandits draw their weapons and begin to move toward the lizard. Without flinching, Zaki raises his other hand toward the bandits, telling them to stop. Zaki looks into the eyes of the lizard and waits for the lizard to act. After a few seconds, the lizard lets go of the arm and starts to back up towards the egg.

"Go and tell Kathaab that a gilacorn just hatched from one of the eggs." Zaki says to the bandits while blood starts to drip from the bite marks on his arm. The bandits run out of the vault toward Kathaab's hut.

"How did you know that would?" Qiang asks Zaki.

"I didn't."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Raid

"What the hell were you thinking?" Qiang yells at Zaki as Zaki is being patched up by an impromptu doctor in the brother's hut.

"I'm not sure. I just felt like that was the right response." Zaki replies.

"What? Getting your arm bitten off? How do you know that thing wasn't poisonous?" Zaki looks at his arm and then to Qiang.

"I wanted the lizard to respect me and I only knew how to do that with strength."

"Then why didn't you beat him instead?"

"I said respect me, not fear me. Besides; baby lizards aren't poisonous, right doc?" Zaki looks at the doctor patching up his arm.

"Uhh, sure. I mean, of course not." The doctor says with an uncertain look on his face.

"Maybe we should take you to a real doctor." The doctor scowls at Qiang as the doctor finishes wrapping up Zaki's arm.

"Where? You made it so that we can never go back to the Oasis."

"Sure we can. We just have to slip in and find a doctor who will keep quiet."

"I'm fine. Thanks doc."

"Let me know if your arm turns funny colors, falls off, or you die." The doctor says as he leaves the hut.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Kathaab storms into the hut.

"He was trying to make the lizard _respect_ him." Qiang said mockingly.

"Then why didn't he hit the damn thing?"

"That's what I asked him." Kathaab looks at Zaki's arm and then back at Qiang.

"Well the thing as scared the men from the vault. I guess we at least have a guard now." Kathaab chuckles. "Well you two get some rest. We can figure out what to do with the lizard tomorrow." Kathaab starts to walk out the door when he turns around and looks at the brothers and says, "Don't think that we won't talk about your little incident today in the oasis, either." Kathaab turns around and leaves the hut.

"Damn. How does he know already?" Qiang complains.

"Who knows. We'll figure it out in the morning." Zaki lays down in his bed and tries to fall asleep, thinking over the events of the day.

* * *

><p>Urana dragged herself out of bed trying to turn off the alarm clock. The curtains have been knocked off of the window and the lamp from the bedside table was on the floor from Urana's air blasts. Urana had tried to turn the alarm clock off with her airbending while half asleep, it didn't go so well. This is the first time Urana and the other airbenders have slept in a real bed since they helped a small settlement just a few kilometers from the Si Wong desert. Urana gathered her things and met with the other airbenders in the hotel lobby.<p>

"So early." One of the airbenders yawns.

"Yeah, but we have important things to do today." Another responds. "Besides, it's eight o'clock. That isn't easrly."

"Whatever." The airbenders make their way out of the hotel and towards the main gate of Misty Palms. Once the airbenders arrive at the gate, they meet up with general Beifong and her troops. Beifong was giving orders to a small squad of soldiers when Urana went up to her.

"Reporting for duty." Urana tries to sound official but comes off as if she was trying to mock the soldiers. The soldiers scoff and then walk away as Beifong turns to face Urana.

"Good, you're here. We will need to leave soon so that we can catch the bandits at their weakest. Do you remember your job?"

"Yes ma'am." Urana remembers all of the details from the night before. The group of airbenders are tasked to fly in first and drop smoke bombs. Once the smoke is released, Beifong and her troops will march in and subdue all threats. After dropping the bombs, the airbenders are to watch for any escapees and trap them.

"Remember; don't hesitate to finish someone off if needed. They won't hesitate to do the same to you." Urana gulps and the other airbenders start to look worried. Beifong leaves and walks towards another group of soldiers.

"We can't kill anyone." An airbender protests to the other airbenders.

"Hopefully, it won't come to that." Urana tries to console the group. The airbenders walk over to their designated sand-sailor. These were much bigger than the one that Zaki and Qiang crashed the day before. These sailors were able to hold fifteen troops a piece which was good considering the sizable force Beifong was taking.

"Doesn't this seem like a lot of soldiers just to capture bandits?" An airbender asks.

"Kathaab is a terrorist and has to be stopped. It's good that the government is finally taking this seriously." Another states.

"I guess. It just seems that a hundred soldiers is a little overkill but I guess I'm not used to these sort of things.

"It will be alright." Urana insists. "Looks like we are heading off. We should be there in a couple of hours."

* * *

><p>Zaki wakes up to the smell of grilled meat coming from the kitchen. He jumps out of bed assuming the meat is the lizard from the night before and rushes to the kitchen.<p>

"Hungry? Got some grilled buzzard wasp." Qiang says to Zaki as he walks into the kitchen. Zaki lets out a sigh of relief and sits at the table. "You alright? You look a little shaken up." Zaki looks over at the food cooking on the grill. "What? Did you think we butchered your friend already?" Qiang laughs. "Don't worry. As far as I can tell, the lizard is still in the vault."

"Sorry. I just thought that Kathaab made up his mind already and decided to take action." Zaki starts to unwrap his bandage over his arm. Qiang brings over two plates of buzzard wasp and sets one in front of Zaki and the other in front of the chair next to him. Qiang sits down and starts to eat. "Thanks."

"Guess you have some more scars to add to your collection." Qiang eyes the teeth marks left by the gilacorn as Zaki finishes unwrapping the bandage.

"Maybe. Maybe not. They might heal."

"You say that every time. They never heal." Qiang chuckles. The two brothers finish their meal and then go and get ready for the day.

The brothers leave the hut and walk over to the vault where they see one bandit standing watch.

"You're not allowed to enter until Kathaab talks to you." The bandit says as he sees the brothers walking up.

"Is it still alive?" Zaki asks.

"I believe so. I think he ate all of the mice running around in there."

Good, Zaki thinks to himself. The two brothers make their way over to Kathaab's hut and knock on the door.

"Come in." Kathaab says through the door. The brothers walk in and find Kathaab sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast. "Don't know if we'll ever eat all of these eggs." Qiang smirks at the remark as the two brothers have a seat across from Kathaab. "Now, what should we do about the lizard?"

"Get rid of it." Qiang says the same time as Zaki says,

"Keep It."

"You two may be related but you always have different opinions." Kathaab smirks.

"That's what makes us special." Qiang replies, smiling.

"Hmph." Kathaab pushes his plate away from him and says, "Why do you want to keep it?" Kathaab looks at Zaki.

"He could be a very valuable asset for us. It's a giant gilacorn. They were thought to be extinct but we have one here. It's worth way more than ten thousand gold ingots." Zaki replied, trying to appeal to Kathaab's greed. Kathaab smiles and asks,

"Who would buy such a thing?"

"Maybe a zoo or circus in Ba Sing Se. If we can't sell him, then we keep him as a guard. The egg he hatched from was a meter tall. You can probably imagine what size it will be when it's fully grown."

"True. But if we can't keep it under control, what's the point?"

"I'll worry about that."

"Alright, but if that thing so much as hisses wrong at me or bites one of my men, I will force you to kill it!"

"Understood."

"Now that's out of the way, what the hell happened in Misty Palms yest…?" Kathaab asks right as multiple large explosions happen outside. "What's going on?!" The three men run outside to see smoke everywhere. The sound of men coughing fills the air as the three men rush back into the house. "Damn it! He's found us! I need you two to keep the attackers busy while I rally the men. We won't go down without a fight."

"Right!" both brothers respond. The two brothers pull up their keffiyehs to cover their mouths and make their way outside. A loud crumbling sound comes from one of the walls of the Ghesh base over by the mess hall. The brothers run over to the noise and can barely make out troops running in from a newly created hole in the wall. The soldiers bend rocks from the nearby stone wall and launch them at the brothers. Qiang takes charge and rushes forward, breaking the rocks with his fists. As Qiang gets closer to the soldiers, he attempts to bend the metal on the soldiers uniforms but fails.

"What the? I can't use their metal!" Qiang cries out in confusion.

"They must have learned their lesson from the last few times." Zaki yells back. Zaki begins bending the remaining stone around the walls to cover the hole that was created while Qiang deals with the soldiers. Qiang uses the small knives and shards of metal that he carries around and bends the metal into the soldiers, going from one to another. The soldiers fight back by stomping the ground to form boulders and then punching the boulders at Qiang. Qiang breaks one boulder with his fist and leaps over the second. As Qiang continues to dash around the battlefield, more holes start to appear in the wall. Soldiers continue to pour in from outside causing Zaki to join the fray.

Zaki holds his arms out and then brings them in quickly as if flexing. Nearby stone from the buildings and walls comes rushing towards him, forming armor around his entire body. Zaki waits for the soldiers to swing their fists and fore their rocks. After the soldiers attack, Zaki counters with a jab or uppercut. The extra weight from the rock armor causes significant damage to the soldiers' armor and bodies, causing them to fall to the ground to catch their breath.

As the smoke clears from the bombs, more and more soldiers break their way into the base. The soldiers surround the brothers who are now fighting back to back. Zaki starts to motion with his feet as a soldier yells out,

"He's going to try and trap us!"

Zaki stops moving as the soldiers bend multiple boulders at the brothers. The brothers attempt to stop all of the attacks but are overwhelmed. One of the boulders is broken in half by Qiang but one of the remaining halves rolls around his fist and smacks him on the head, knocking him out cold. Zaki thrusts his arms out causing all of the rock armor that is left on his body to fly out at the surrounding soldiers. Some of the soldiers block the attack but most get hit in the face or gut causing the soldiers to drop.

Zaki tries again to bend the sand around the soldiers' hands and feet again but is stopped as a soldier rushes up and hits him in the back with a rock. Qiang falls over as the soldier places his foot on Zaki's back. The soldier raises his fist in the air as if he was going to punch Zaki, causing a boulder to rise up.

"Sorry kid, but we are ordered to execute you and your brother on behalf of Ronan." The soldier states as he begins to slam his fist down. Zaki closes his eyes and hears a loud thud from where the soldier was standing. Zaki opens his eyes and sees the gilacorn from the night before starting to tear at the soldier's throat.

"Where did that come from?" A soldier yells out as he starts to raise another boulder to kick at the gilacorn. Zaki kicks the gilacorn off of the soldier as the boulder flies over their bodies and hits another soldier on the other side. Zaki gets back to his feet and makes a fluid motion with his hands. Zaki starts to circle around causing a sandstorm to kick up. The sand gets in the soldiers eyes and starts to tear at their exposed skin. Standing in the eye of the storm, Zaki looks down at the gilacorn and authoritates,

"Thank you for the help but **do not** kill unless you have to!" The gilacorn lowers his head in shame at the sound of Zaki's sharp tone. "Now we need to get Qiang out of here." Zaki tries to wake Qiang up but gets no response. Zaki lifts Qiang in his arms and walks towards the nearest house with the gilacorn in tow. The soldiers all scramble around trying to see what's going on and stop the sand.

Zaki rushes through the sandstorm and breaks into a nearby house. The gilacorn follows Zaki inside of the house and then waits by the door acting as a guard. "You sure learn quickly." Zaki says to the gilacorn as he sets his brother on a bed. Zaki thinks to himself, at least that's not Qiang's blood staining the sheets. Zaki looks at his arm and grabs a nearby sheet to wrap around his wounds to stop the bleeding. Zaki peeks out the window and sees that the mini sandstorm has stopped and that the soldiers are scouring the town. Zaki looks up and sees five flying objects in the sky. Those must be the airbenders, he thinks to himself.

Zaki looks around the base again and realizes that there are no other bandits outside. "Where the hell is everyone?" The soldiers are making their way for the main building along with Kathaab's house. The soldiers line up and in one motion bring almost the entire front off of Kathaab's house. Three soldiers run into the house but come back shaking their heads. Another group of soldiers run into the main building.

Zaki turns away from the window and goes over to the kitchen sink. Zaki fills up a cup of water and then splashes the water onto Qiang's face. Qiang wakes up with a start.

"What? What's going on? Where are we?" He shouts.

"Be quiet. The soldiers are looking for us." Zaki whispers as he points to the window.

"What happened?" Qiang whispers back.

"You were knocked out by one of the soldiers. Another soldier almost finished us off but luckily, the gilacorn came and saved us." Zaki points to the lizard lying by the front door.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I made a small sandstorm and then brought you in here." Qiang looks around the house and then back at Zaki.

"So what's the plan?"

"I'm not sure. Kathaab is nowhere to be seen along with the other men. I don't even see the men that were outside during the initial attack." Zaki goes back to the window and looks around. Qiang follows as the two brothers try to decide what to do next.

"I bet he ran, that coward. We should've known that's why he sent us outside. He knew that we would be able to handle enough of the soldiers to give him time to go hide." Qiang clenches his fists.

"Calm down. We need to get out of here first then we can figure out what happened. Let's take one of the remaining sand-sailors and get out of here."

"Sounds good to me. Hopefully the soldiers catch that bastard." Qiang and Zaki make their way back outside along with the gilacorn. The three sneak behind the houses and buildings of the base over towards the sand-sailor storage area. As the three move from house to house, Zaki constantly watches the sky to see if the airbenders make any sudden movements signaling where they are. The airbenders continue to glide over the base without noticing the brothers or the gilacorn.

The three arrive at the sand-sailor holding area and get on one of the vessels. Qiang and Zaki notice a few guards stationed at the sand-sailor entrance to the base.

"What are we going to do with them?" Qiang asks.

"We'll just have to knock them out as we go by." Zaki looks back up to the sky to look for the airbenders but sees nothing. "Where did they go?" Qiang attempts to look for the airbenders as well but finds nothing.

"Maybe they found Kathaab." Qiang replies optimistically.

"Maybe." Zaki looks back at the guards standing at the entrance noticing that there were now just two. "Perfect. While the guards are distracted we might be able to get out of here." Qiang and the gilacorn get onto the front of the sand-sailor while Zaki gets onto the back. Zaki bends sand into the sail of the sand-sailor as the craft lurches forward. Zaki speeds up the vessel as they get closer to the guards. The guards, just now turning to see what was making the noise, start to form boulders to launch at the vessel, but Qiang bends bricks form the top of the walls to fall on the guards, knocking them both out.

"We're free!" Qiang yells as the sand-sailor shoots out from the base. The two brothers notice a giant metal Earth Empire tank facing the base with a human like figure on top of the tank. Just past the tank was a huge uproar of smoke and fighting. Rocks are being shot into the air and huge blasts of wind kick sand up as bandits are thrown onto the ground.

Zaki turns the sand-sailor towards the fight.

"What the hell are you doing?" Qiang yells as he turns to face Zaki.

"Something doesn't feel right. I need to see what's happening." Zaki replies as he stares at the battle. As the sand-sailor gets closer the two brothers could see everything that was going on. Three of the airbenders were fighting with the bandits as Urana and the fourth airbender were fighting Kathaab. One of the airbenders was hit on the back of the head and fell to the ground. As the other two continued to shoot air blasts at the bandits, more bandits came up from behind and cut them with their swords.

The earth kingdom soldiers were busy fighting off of the rest of the bandits and ignored the injured airbenders. The earth kingdom solders easily outnumbered the bandits and with their coordinated attacks, broke through the bandits weak defenses causing the bandits to fall to the ground. The soldiers continued to kick boulders at the bandits surrounding the airbenders but did not stop to help them. As the soldiers beat back the bandits, they noticed Zaki and Qiang. Multiple soldiers ran over to the sand-sailor and stomped the ground and then raised their arms causing small rock pillars to form out of the sand and smash the sand-sailor into pieces. Zaki, Qiang, and the gilacorn jumped off of the craft just as the pillars crushed the vessel.

"Damn it Zaki!" Qiang screamed as ran towards the soldiers to engage them in combat. The gilacorn joined him and lunged at the nearest soldier before he could defend himself. Qiang jumped into the air and did a spin kick causing sand to fly up into the soldiers' eyes. Three of the soldiers were able to block the attack and coordinated a boulder strike against Qiang. Qiang was able to dodge the three boulders and then ran up and punched one of the soldiers in the gut. Qiang dropped down and kicked the legs out from under another soldier and then kicked him in the ribs. The third soldier started to throw a punch at Qiang but Qiang was able to redirect the punch and counter with a jab to the attackers jaw. The soldier fell backwards as Qiang turned around to see two more soldiers punching rocks at him. Zaki jumped in front of the rocks and was able to block them with his rock armor that he had just formed.

"Sorry that took so long, it takes a while to make armor from sand." Zaki says as he thrusts his fist towards one of the soldiers causing that arm's armor to shoot towards the soldier and hit him in the face. Zaki then re-forms the armor as the gilacorn pounces on the remaining soldier.

The rest of the soldiers now join the fight against the two brothers as most of the bandits have all been taken out. Overwhelming the brothers, most of the soldiers mass together two huge boulders while the other soldiers cause the ground beneath the brothers' feet to become quicksand. Qiang and Zaki try to get out of the sand by bending the sand back into its original form but fail without being able to use their feet. The boulders come hurtling towards them and smack into the brothers' fists, knocking off all of Zaki's armor. Qiang and Zaki were able to hold their arms up to break the boulders but were still affected by the force of which they were hit. That coupled with the power needed to break such large objects caused both brothers to fall forward. The gilacorn ran over to try and protect them but was caught in a net by the soldiers.

Meanwhile, Urana and the other airbender continue to fight Kathaab and two other bandits. Urana ducks under Kathaab's boulder and then follows up with a flip kick that causes a stream of air to cut towards Kathaab. Kathaab blocks with a rock pillar and then punches the pillar multiple times forming small spear-like rocks to be fired at the two airbenders. Urana and the other airbender get clipped by the rocks as they dodge the attack. The other airbender falls to the ground after being hit in the foot. One of the remaining bandits runs up and kicks the airbender in the head causing him to fall backwards, unconscious. Urana rushes over to him and tries to protect him from the other rocks that are being thrown at them from the nearby bandits. The other two airbenders limp over to help her. Though badly wounded from the sword slashes on their backs; the two airbenders, along with Urana, form a small vortex that causes all of the small projectiles to be thrown about the battlefield.

Even in his weakened state, Zaki could see the airbenders fighting for their lives. Their movements reminded him of sandbending and seeing the three airbenders form the vortex looked a lot like how he formed the sand storm.

Kathaab forms a tall pillar that he stands on as he also creates a boulder. Kathaab then jumps off of the pillar and into the eye of the small vortex. Kathaab has his fist poised to smash the ground as he lands, bringing the boulder with him. Kathaab lands in front of the airbenders and hits the ground with his fist. The boulder follows and crashes in the middle of the vortex and the airbenders. No airbenders were directly hit by the boulder but the resulting shockwave knocked all of them back a few meters. Urana tried to get up as Kathaab walked up to her, grinning. Kathaab grabs her by the throat and pulls her to her feet. Kathaab pulls a knife from his side and holds it by her throat. Kathaab yells out to the surrounding soldiers,

"Stay back! I will kill her!"

The tank fires a shell near Kathaab, bringing about another explosion of sand.

"It's over Kathaab!" General Beifong shouts form the top of the tank. "All of your men are down and we have your two best lackeys!" Beifong points her hand over to Qiang and Zaki who are being dragged towards the tank. The gilacorn is now in a giant net that is anchored to the sand.

"You would have these airbenders die just to get to me?" Kathaab retorts.

"Let her go and we'll let you live. If not…" the tank re-adjusts it's turret to face Kathaab.

Kathaab's grin gets menacingly bigger as he pricks Urana's neck with the knife causing a small stream of blood to form. Urana screams out in pain as she sees the blood drip to the sand below. "I think your bluffing!" Kathaab yells back.

Starting to look uneasy, Beifong orders her men to stand down as the tank's turret lowers to face the ground. "Now let her go!"

"Fine." Kathaab lets go of Urana who drops to her knees holding her throat. "Now get me a sand-sailor!"Beifong motions to one of the soldiers and after a few minutes, the soldier returns with a sand-sailor. The soldier guides the sand-sailor over by Kathaab and then stops the vessel behind him. The soldier then walks back over to the tank.

"Thank you." Kathaab says sarcastically as he walks towards the sand-sailor. Kathaab turns around to face the tank before stepping onto the craft. "Now here's a parting present!" Kathaab motions with his hands and legs and then raises his arms into the air. A giant boulder that is the size of the tank, rumbles out of the sand behind him and floats into the sky.

"Shoot him now!" General Beifong yells as she watches the boulder float higher and higher. Kathaab then throws his arms down as the tank's turret starts to rise up to his level. The boulder starts to come crashing down towards the airbenders.

"Bye." Kathaab waves his hand at Beifong as he steps onto the sand-sailor. Kathaab bends sand into the back of the sail and takes off.

"Try to shoot the boulder!" Beifong yells to the crew inside of the tank.

"We can't! It's too high!" One of the crewmembers yells back. Some of the nearby soldiers start to run in all directions while others look up in horror as they are frozen by fear.

Zaki looks around to try and find a solution but can't think of anything. He continues to look up at the boulder and then back at the airbenders. The boulder gets closer and closer to the ground and is just a few seconds from smashing them all.

All of a sudden, the wind changes direction and the gusts become stronger.

"I will not let anyone else die!" He screams as he rises from the sand with glowing white eyes. Zaki runs over to the airbenders at an incredible speed and motions with his arms and legs. Zaki makes a sharp uppercut with both of his arms causing five large pillars to shoot out from the ground around the airbenders at an incredible rate towards the boulder. The pillars smash into the boulder causing an explosive sound coupled with rocks shooting in all directions. Zaki then replicates the motions that he witnessed earlier, swirling his arms towards the sky and causes a small but sharp burst of air to shoot up above the airbenders and knock away all of the debris that was falling towards them.

Urana looks up in amazement as she sees Zaki stand above her. His body was badly wounded from the earth kingdom soldiers and he was bleeding from his arms, face, and legs. He stood there for a few moments before he made another sharp motion with his arms and punched the air towards the tank. Another earth spire came out of the ground at an angle and pierced the heavy armor of the vessel. Zaki then made several more punches causing several more spires to pierce the tank. The tank started to smoke as the crewmembers from inside got out. General Beifong jumped off to the side of the tank and was able to get away before the tank exploded.

Zaki's eyes then faded back to green as he passed out in the sand by Urana.


End file.
